Information Sharing Among Mobile Apparatus

ABSTRACT

Verifying shared event information is provided. Communication with a nearby mobile or immobile apparatus is established to generate an event existence proof in response to encountering the nearby mobile or immobile apparatus. Existence of an incident event is verified in response to arriving at a geographic location of the incident event. A verified incident event is published to add to an incident event distributed ledger for managing incident event information corresponding to the incident event.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The present invention, generally, relates to information sharingtechniques, more particularly, to sharing event information among aplurality of mobile apparatus, each mobile apparatus including set ofsensors and a data processing system to detect and process the eventinformation.

2. Description of the Related Art

In response to recent advances in Internet of Things (IoT)-relatedtechnologies, there have been developed platforms, in which road hazardinformation, weather information, environmental information, and thelike are collected from operating mobile apparatus, such as runningvehicles, and utilized for map information updates and dynamic routenavigations by delivering the collected information to computing nodesvia a network. In typical configurations, the collected information maybe managed by a specific service provider in a centralized manner.

SUMMARY

According to one illustrative embodiment, a computer-implemented methodexecuted by a mobile apparatus for verifying shared event information isprovided. The mobile apparatus communicates with a nearby mobile orimmobile apparatus to generate an event existence proof in response toencountering the nearby mobile or immobile apparatus. The mobileapparatus verifies existence of an incident event in response toarriving at a geographic location of the incident event. The mobileapparatus publishes a verified incident event to add to an incidentevent distributed ledger for managing incident event informationcorresponding to the incident event.

BREIF DISCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an event informationsharing environment in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an eventinformation sharing system in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a set of example components implementedon a mobile apparatus in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a set of example components implementedon a computing node in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram depicting a process flow from detection ofevent information to publication of verified event information inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of reporting an unverifiedincident event by respective incident event detectors in accordance withan illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of generating eventexistence proofs by an incident event information verifier and asubsequent event existence proof verification process by an eventexistence proof verifier in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of verifying an unverifiedincident event by an incident event information verifier to publish averified incident event in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of validating a verifiedincident event by an incident event information validator in accordancewith an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed by a computingnode for validating event information in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed by a computingnode for verifying event existence proof of a mobile apparatus being ata specific geographic location, at a specific time in accordance with anillustrative embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed by the mobileapparatus for verifying incident event information, detecting incidentevent information, and subscribing incident event information inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a mobile apparatusacting as an incident event information verifier and an incident eventinformation validator in accordance with an alternative illustrativeembodiment;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a mobile apparatusacting as an incident event detector, an incident event informationverifier, and an incident event information validator in accordance withanother alternative illustrative embodiment; and

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a computing nodeor an on-board data processing device of a mobile apparatus inaccordance with one or more illustrative embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product at any possible technical detail level of integration.The computer program product may include a computer readable storagemedium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereonfor causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

In the course of developing illustrative embodiments, it was discoveredthat a way of validating reliability of reported event information to aservice provider does not currently exist. Also, it is difficult forservice providers to respond immediately to state changes of incidentevents, such as, for example, elimination of an obstruction orescalation of a road hazard. In addition, operational cost for acentralized management of event information by service providers may beconsiderably high. Furthermore, a risk of event information manipulationmay exist. Illustrative embodiments provide computer-implementedmethods, computer systems, and computer program products for sharingevent information among a plurality of mobile apparatus, including eventinformation detection, event information verification, event informationvalidation, event information publication, and event existence proofverification and validation functionalities.

With reference now to the figures, and in particular, with reference toFIGS. 1-4, 6-9, and 13-15, diagrams of data processing environments areprovided in which illustrative embodiments may be implemented. It shouldbe appreciated that 1-4, 6-9, and 13-15 are only meant as examples andare not intended to assert or imply any limitation with regard to theenvironments in which different embodiments may be implemented. Manymodifications to the depicted environments may be made.

FIG. 1 depicts a diagram illustrating an example of an event informationsharing environment in accordance with an illustrative embodimentenvironment. In this example, event information sharing environment 100includes network 102, which is the medium used to provide communicationslinks between mobile apparatus, computers, data processing systems, andother devices connected together within event information sharingenvironment 100. Network 102 may include connections, such as, forexample, wire communication links or wireless communication links. Eventinformation sharing environment 100 also includes a plurality of mobileapparatus, such as vehicle 104A, vehicle 104B, vehicle 104C, and vehicle104D, which connect to network 102 via wireless communication links, anda plurality of computing nodes, such as computing node 106A, computingnode 106B, . . . and computing node 106Z, which also connect to network102 via wired and/or wireless communication links. It should be notedthat the plurality of mobile apparatus may include a set of one or moresensors and a set of one or more data processing devices to detect andprocess event information.

Vehicle 104A, vehicle 104B, vehicle 104C, and vehicle 104D may run onroadway 106, along its own route to a respective travel destination.Roadway 106 may be, for example, a paved roadway, such as a street, astate highway, an interstate highway, and the like or an unpavedroadway, such as a gravel or dirt road, a trail, or open area. Vehicle104A, vehicle 104B, vehicle 104C, and vehicle 104D may be equipped witha mobile communications unit for connecting to the network 102 via amobile wireless communications system. Vehicle 104A, vehicle 104B,vehicle 104C, and vehicle 104D also may be equipped with a short-rangewireless communication unit for communicating with a nearby mobile orimmobile apparatus. Nearby mobile apparatus may include, for example,oncoming vehicles heading in an opposite direction, following vehiclesheading in a same direction, overtaking vehicles passing in the samedirection, and the like. An immobile apparatus may include, for example,a traffic signaling apparatus, such as traffic signal device 108, andthe like.

In this example, vehicle 104A, using a set of on-board sensors, detectsobstruction 110 on roadway 106 as an incident event. Such incident eventinformation may be useful to a nearby vehicle, such as vehicle 104D,traveling on roadway 106 along its own route, which is a similar routeto that of vehicle 104A. In this example, nearby vehicle 104D may beinterested in the incident event detected by leading vehicle 104A andmay want to know about the incident event. On the other hand, a vehicle,such as vehicle 104B or vehicle 104C, which is traveling along adifferent route from that of vehicle 104A may not be interested in theincident event detected by vehicle 104A.

Illustrative embodiments may share this geographically-dependentincident event information among the plurality of mobile apparatus onroadway 106, such as vehicle 104A, vehicle 104B, vehicle 104C, andvehicle 104D, via network 102 in a decentralized manner by using eventinformation sharing environment 100. Illustrative embodiments mayachieve the sharing of the incident event information using, forexample, a distributed ledger dedicated for incident event informationsharing.

Furthermore, in this example vehicle 104D verifies the incident eventinformation detected by leading vehicle 104A while traveling alongroadway 106 on its own route that passes nearby the geographic locationor place of the incident event (i.e., obstruction 110). Vehicle 104D maycommunicate with oncoming vehicle 104B, oncoming vehicle 104C, andimmobile traffic signal device 108 en route to the geographic locationof the incident event and request that each oncoming vehicle 104B and104C testify to an encounter between vehicle 104D and respectiveoncoming vehicles 104B and 104C. Illustrative embodiments may manageevent existence proofs for testifying to mobile apparatus encounters byusing, for example, a distributed ledger dedicated for event existenceproof management.

Illustrative embodiments may employ block chains as the distributedledgers, which illustrative embodiments may utilize for incident eventinformation sharing and event existence proof management. However, itshould be noted that illustrative embodiments also may utilize any otherdistributed ledger having a data structure other than a block chainstructure as both or either of the distributed ledgers mentioned above.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, the mobile apparatus participating inthe incident event information sharing may be a ground vehicle, such as,for example, an automobile, a truck, a van, a sport utility vehicle, abus, a semi-tractor trailer, a train, an off-road vehicle, a motorcycle,and the like. However, it should be noted that illustrative embodimentsare not limited to only ground vehicles as illustrated in the example ofFIG. 1. For example, illustrative embodiments may utilize other types ofvehicles, such as aircraft, which may include manned aerial vehicles andunmanned aerial vehicles (e.g., drones), watercrafts, such as ships andboats, and human-powered vehicles, such as bicycles. Further,illustrative embodiments may utilize on-board computing devices includedwith the above-mentioned vehicles, as well as portable apparatus, suchas smart phones, personal digital assistants, portable gaming devices,mobile computers, and the like.

Computing nodes 106A-106Z may include any known general purposecomputer, such as a network computer, a desktop or personal computer, aworkstation computer, a computer cluster, a mainframe, and the like. Inaddition, computing nodes 106A-106Z also may include special purposecomputers having specialized hardware, such as a Field Programmable GateArray (FPGA) and/or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).Computing nodes 106A-106Z may participate in the processing of the blockchains, which may include validation of the incident event informationand validation and verification of the event existence proof

Network 102 may include any kind of wired and/or wireless networkinfrastructures including an internet, an intranet, a local area network(LAN), a wide area network (WAN), and the like. Further, illustrativeembodiments may establish peer-to-peer networks (P2P networks) fordifferent block chains within network 102.

It should be noted that obstruction 110 is only one example of apossible incident event detected by vehicle 104A. In other words,illustrative embodiments are not limited to only obstruction 110.Detectable incident events may include, for example, an automobileaccident, a disabled vehicle, a construction work zone, hazardousdriving conditions, such as roadway flooding or icing, restrictions,roadway closures, speed limitations, snow chain requirements, one-wayalternating traffic patterns, and the like. Furthermore, detectableincident events also may include traffic condition information, such astraffic congestion or smooth moving traffic, business information, suchas business closings or parking status, and the like.

With reference now to FIG. 2, a block diagram illustrating an example ofan event information sharing system is depicted in accordance with anillustrative embodiment. Event information sharing system 200 mayinclude a set of one or more incident event detectors 202; a set of oneor more event existence proof generators 204; a set of one or moreincident event information verifiers 206; a set of one or more incidentevent information validators 208; and a set of one or more incidentevent information subscribers 210.

Incident event detector 202 may be one of the mobile apparatus, such asvehicles 104A-104D, shown in FIG. 1. Incident event detector 202 maydetect an incident event, such as obstruction 110 in FIG. 1, whichoccurred in a geographic location within a predefined distance (e.g., adistance set by an event sensor limit) from incident event detector 202.Incident event detector 202 also may report the detected incident eventto other mobile apparatus nearby (e.g., mobile apparatus withincommunication range of incident event detector 202 via a P2P network).Incident event detector 202 may issue an incident event transactionregarding the detected incident event via the P2P network to notifynearby mobile apparatus of the occurrence of the incident event.

Each incident event transaction may include information regarding thedetected incident event, such as, for example, a geographic location ofthe incident event, a time of detection of the incident event, a digitalsignature of incident event detector 202, and the like. Illustrativeembodiments may store an incident event transaction in unverifiedincident event pool 212 for a period of time as an unverified incidentevent corresponding to a specific geographic location. It should benoted that multiple information detectors may issue multiple incidentevent transactions corresponding to a same or an identical incidentevent.

Incident event information verifier 206 also may be one of vehicles104A-104D in FIG. 1. Incident event information verifier 206 may verifyexistence of the unverified incident event at the geographic locationreported by incident event detector 202. Incident event informationverifier 206 may communicate with a nearby event existence proofgenerator 204 to generate an event existence proof in response toencountering nearby event existence proof generator 204 that istraveling to the geographic location of the unverified incident event.In one illustrative embodiment, incident event information verifier 206may initiate communications for the event existence proof in response toreceiving the incident event transaction of the unverified incidentevent. However, it should be noted that in other illustrativeembodiments, incident event information verifier 206 may performcommunications for every encountered incident event while operating.

In response to arriving at the geographic location of the unverifiedincident event, incident event information verifier 206 may determinewhether the unverified incident event, which was detected and reportedby incident event detector 202, is equal to or identical with what iscurrently occurring at the geographic location of the unverifiedincident event upon arrival. Incident event information verifier 206 maygenerate verified incident event 214 and store verified incident event214 in a verified incident event pool. In addition, incident eventinformation verifier 206 may publish verified incident event 214 via anetwork, such as network 102 in FIG. 1.

Verified incident event 214 may include, for example, a set of one ormore incident event transactions corresponding to the incident event; alist of event existence proofs generated during a period of timestarting from when incident event information verifier 206 was notifiedabout the incident event and ending when incident event informationverifier 206 arrives at the geographic location of the incident event;and a digital signature corresponding to incident event informationverifier 206. Incident event information validator 208 may add verifiedincident event 214 to an incident event block chain, such as incidentevent block chain 216. Illustrative embodiments may utilize incidentevent block chain 216 to manage information corresponding to theincident event after validation based on the generated event existenceproofs, which are in terms of geographic locations of incident eventinformation verifier 206.

Event existence proof generator 204 may be, for example, a mobileapparatus or an immobile apparatus, such as one of vehicles 104A-104D ortraffic signal device 108 in FIG. 1. Event existence proof generator 204may communicate with nearby incident event information verifier 206 togenerate an event existence proof in response to encountering nearbyincident event information verifier 206. Thus, event existence proofgenerator 204 may testify to incident event information verifier 206being at a specific geographic location, at a specific time.

The encounter with nearby incident event information verifier 206 maytake a variety of forms. For example, if event existence proof generator204 is a mobile apparatus, then event existence proof generator 204 maybe a passing oncoming incident event information verifier that istraveling in an opposite direction, an overtaking preceding incidentevent information verifier that is traveling in the same direction, oran overtaken succeeding incident event information verifier that istraveling in the same direction. If event existence proof generator 204is an immovable apparatus, such as a traffic signaling apparatus, thenevent existence proof generator 204 may be passed by an incident eventinformation verifier that is traveling toward the incident event.

In this example, incident event information verifier 206 may issue anevent existence proof transaction via the network when encounteringevent existence proof generator 204. At the same time, event existenceproof generator 204 also may issue an event existence proof transactionvia the network when encountering incident event information verifier206. The event existence proof transaction may include, for example,identifiers of both parties of the encounter, a geographic location ofthe encounter, and a time of the encounter. Illustrative embodiments maystore the event existence proof transaction in event existence proofpool 218 for a predetermined period of time. Illustrative embodimentsadd the event existence proof transaction to event existence proof blockchain 220 after verification and validation in terms of geographiclocation consistency with other event existence proof transactions.

In this example, both incident event information verifier 206 and eventexistence proof generator 204, which encountered each other, may issuerespective event existence proof transactions via the network. However,it should be noted that in an alternative illustrative embodiment,either incident event information verifier 206 or event existence proofgenerator 204 may issue an event existence proof transaction afterobtaining a digital signature of the other encountered party via theirnetwork communications. For example, incident event information verifier206 may issue an event existence proof transaction digitally signed by acorresponding event existence proof generator 204.

Incident event information validator 208 may be, for example, acomputing node, such as one of computing nodes 106A-106Z in FIG. 1.Incident event information validator 208 may validate verified incidentevent 214, which is published by incident event information verifier 206that has been to the geographic location of the incident event in termsof geographic locations of incident event information verifier 206 byusing event existence proofs in event existence proof block chain 220.After validating verified incident event 214, incident event informationvalidator 208 may add a verified event block including verified incidentevent 214 to incident event block chain 216.

Incident event block chain 216 may be, for example, a distributed ledgerdedicated to managing event information corresponding to specificincident events. One or more participants of an event informationsharing environment, such as event information sharing environment 100in FIG. 1, may access incident event block chain 216. Incident eventblock chain 216 may include, for example, a set of one or more verifiedincident event blocks, each of which may include a verified incidentevent corresponding to the incident event. Illustrative embodiments mayidentify verified incident events, which are associated with same orsimilar geographic locations, as relevant incident events and may recordthese verified incident events in a same incident event block chain 216.Illustrative embodiments may generate incident event block chain 216 inresponse to first recognition of a relevant incident event and maydelete incident event block chain 216 in response to removal of theincident event. Illustrative embodiments may extend incident event blockchain 216 in response to subsequent verified incident events thatillustrative embodiments determine to be relevant. After obtainingconsensus about a new verified event block among a plurality of incidentevent information validators 208, illustrative embodiments settleincident event block chain 216.

Incident event information subscriber 210 also may be a mobileapparatus, such as one of the vehicles 104A-104D in FIG. 1. Incidentevent information subscriber 210 may receive a subscription of eventinformation corresponding to the incident event from one or morevalidated incident events when incident event information subscriber 210is interested in the incident event. Incident event informationsubscriber 210 may be interested in the event information because theincident event corresponds to a nearby geographic location of a currentgeographic position of incident event information subscriber 210 or ascheduled or estimated route of incident event information subscriber210, for example. To subscribe to the event information, incident eventinformation subscriber 210 may refer to incident event block chain 216,which corresponds to the incident event of interest.

The event information sharing system may further include a set of one ormore event existence proof verifiers, such as event existence proofverifiers 222A and 222B. Illustrative embodiments may manage the eventexistence proof transaction, which is issued by incident eventinformation verifier 206 and/or event existence proof generator 204, byusing event existence proof block chain 220. As described above,illustrative embodiments may store the event existence proof transactionin event existence proof pool 218 as an unverified event existence proof

Event existence proof verifiers 222A and 222B also may be computingnodes. Event existence proof verifier 222A may verify the eventexistence proof transaction issued by one participant in terms ofgeographic location consistency with other existence proof transactions,which may be issued by other participants. Then, event existence proofverifier 222A may generate event existence proof block 224 thatconstitutes event existence proof block chain 220. Each block in thechain may include one or more verified event existence prooftransactions.

Verification of the event existence proof transaction may be a type ofcompetition. Event existence proof verifier 222A, which succeeds in theverification under a given challenge level, may generate event existenceproof block 224. Event existence proof verifiers 222B may validate eventexistence proof block 224, which was generated by event existence proofverifier 222A, and may add event existence proof block 224 to eventexistence proof block chain 220 after approval. After obtainingconsensus regarding new event existence proof block 224 among aplurality of event existence proof verifiers, illustrative embodimentssettle event existence proof block chain 220.

It should be noted that the different illustrative embodiments may notlimit the number of incident event detectors 202, the number of eventexistence proof generators 204, the number of incident event informationverifiers 206, the number of incident event information validators 208,and the number of incident event information subscribers 210 in theevent information sharing environment. In addition, the differentillustrative embodiments may not limit the types of incident eventscapable of being detected by the different illustrative embodiments orthe number of incident events that the different illustrativeembodiments may handle.

With reference now to FIG. 3, a diagram illustrating a set of examplecomponents implemented on a mobile apparatus is depicted in accordancewith an illustrative embodiment. Mobile apparatus 300 may include, forexample, incident event detection module 302, incident event informationverification module 304, incident event information subscription module306, and event existence proof generation module 308. Mobile apparatus300 also may include unverified incident event pool 310, verifiedincident event 312, incident event block chain 314 for each particularincident event, and event existence proof pool 316.

Incident event detection module 302 detects a local incident event, thecontext of the local incident event, and any other informationcorresponding to the local incident event. Incident event detectionmodule 302 may perform detection of local incident events andidentification of the event information corresponding to the detectedlocal incident events by using, for example, mobile apparatus mountedsensors, such as cameras, microphones, global positioning systemtransceivers, and the like. Incident event detection module 302 mayfurther report an incident event transaction via a P2P network inaccordance with a predetermined report policy when detecting the localincident event.

The predetermined report policy may, for example, describe conditionsfor reporting incident event transactions by incident event detectionmodule 302. In one example, incident event detection module 302 mayautomatically report all detected local incident events. In anotherexample, a part of detected local incident events, which is permitted bya user of the mobile apparatus to be shared in an interactive manner,may be reported automatically by incident event detection module 302 ormanually by the user.

Each incident event transaction may include, for example, a geographiclocation of the detected local incident event, time of the incidentevent, and a digital signature of the mobile apparatus as the issuer ofthe incident event information. Incident event detection module 302 maydetermine the specific geographic location of the detected localincident event by utilizing, for example, global positioning systemcoordinates (i.e., longitude and latitude) provided by a globalpositioning system transceiver of the mobile apparatus, address or nameof roadway (e.g., U.S. ROUTE 66) with segment information provided by anavigation system of the mobile apparatus, and the like.

Incident event information verification module 304 may obtain anincident event transaction from unverified incident event pool 310,which may be reported by other mobile apparatus on the same roadwayacting as incident event detectors. Incident event informationverification module 304 also may communicate with a nearby mobile orimmobile apparatus that acts as an event existence proof generator, suchas event existence proof generator 204 in FIG. 2, to generate an eventexistence proof in response to encountering the nearby mobile orimmobile apparatus. Incident event information verification module 304may conduct the communication for generating the event existence proofby using a short-range wireless communication unit, which is typicallyused for vehicle-to-vehicle and/or vehicle-to-infrastructurecommunications if mobile apparatus 300 is a ground vehicle. Incidentevent information verification module 304 may issue an event existenceproof transaction, which indicates an encounter between mobile apparatus300 and the nearby mobile or immobile apparatus, via a network, such asnetwork 102 in FIG. 1.

Incident event information verification module 304 may further verifyexistence of the unverified incident event in response to arriving atthe geographic location reported in the incident event transaction.Incident event information verification module 304 may perform theverification of the existence of the unverified incident event bydetecting the local incident event and its corresponding informationregarding the area around the geographic location of the unverifiedincident event as the same or substantially similar to the informationprovided by incident event detection module 302. If the eventinformation content corresponding to the local incident event matchesthe event information content of the unverified incident event asreported by incident event detection module 302, then verification byincident event information verification module 304 succeeds.

Incident event information verification module 304 may verify, in realtime, unverified incident events that correspond to same or similargeographic locations and have same or similar event information contentas relevant incident events. For example, incident event informationverification module 304 may verify incident events corresponding to aspecific narrow roadway location as relevant incident events. Incidentevent information verification module 304 may publish verified incidentevent 312 to add verified incident event 312 to a corresponding incidentevent block chain 314 in response to incident event informationverification module 304 successfully verifying the existence of theunverified incident event. Verified incident event 312 may include, forexample, a set of one or more incident event transactions that incidentevent information verification module 304 may verify together.

Instead of using a proof-of-work model, in which an exhaustive search isrequested to find a cryptographic nonce that can make a hash value of anincident event block to satisfy a given criterion, illustrativeembodiments may use mobile apparatus 300 to travel to the geographiclocation of the incident event as previously reported by another mobileapparatus to generate an incident event block in incident event blockchain 314. A model where illustrative embodiments request that mobileapparatus 300, which includes incident event information verificationmodule 304, to travel to the geographic location of the reportedincident event by consuming fuel or electrical power may be referred toas “proof-of-drive” model.

Incident event information subscription module 306 may select a remoteincident event of interest from among validated incident eventsoccurring within a range of the P2P network. Illustrative embodimentsmay associate each validated incident event with a correspondingincident event block chain 314. Incident event information subscriptionmodule 306 may perform the selection of the remote incident event inaccordance with a predetermined subscription policy, which may describeconditions for subscribing to event information. In one example,incident event information subscription module 306 may automaticallysubscribe to validated incident events corresponding to a scheduled orestimated route of mobile apparatus 300. Alternatively, the user ofmobile apparatus 300 may manually subscribe to validated incident eventscorresponding to a scheduled or estimated route of mobile apparatus 300.

Mobile apparatus 300 may utilize obtained incident event information ina variety of forms. For example, mobile apparatus 300 may re-calculate atravel route by using real time up-to-date incident event informationfor dynamic routing. As another example, mobile apparatus 300 maydisplay a popup notification on a display, such as an onboard navigationsystem screen, showing information, such as sightseeing information,parking status information, recklessly driven vehicle warninginformation, and the like. As a further example, mobile apparatus 300may display a traffic congestion overlay on a road map of the navigationsystem. However, it should be noted that illustrative embodiments arenot restricted to the aforementioned examples for utilizing the obtainedevent information. For example, alternative illustrative embodiments mayuse the obtained event information for geo-fencing, otherpositional-information-related services, and the like.

When one or more mobile apparatus continuously issue incident eventnotification transactions for a relevant incident event, illustrativeembodiments may add incident event blocks corresponding to a verifiedincident event to incident event block chain 314 one after another.Illustrative embodiments may consider a longer incident event blockchain corresponding a particular incident event as more reliable. Anincident block closer to the end of an incident block chain maycorrespond to more recent information because a state of the incidentevent may change (e.g., hazard elimination or restriction escalation) astime proceeds. Therefore, mobile apparatus 300 may determine whether toutilize the information when considering the balance between the newnessand continuity of the incident event information.

Event existence proof generation module 308 may communicate with anearby mobile apparatus, which may act as an incident event informationverifier, to generate an event existence proof in response toencountering the nearby mobile apparatus. Mobile apparatus 300 mayconduct the communication for generating the event existence proof byusing a short-range wireless communication unit, for example. Eventexistence proof generation module 308 may issue an event existence prooftransaction, which indicates an encounter between mobile apparatus 300and the nearby mobile apparatus, via the network.

Referring again to FIG. 2, incident event detector 202, event existenceproof generator 204, incident event information verifier 206, andincident event information subscriber 210, may each be a differentmobile apparatus, such as vehicles 104A-104D in FIG. 1. However, itshould be noted that the aforementioned roles may be mutuallyinterchangeable by using the components shown in the example of FIG. 3in a manner that depends on the circumstances of a particular mobileapparatus.

For example, a mobile apparatus that acts as an incident eventinformation subscriber also may act as an incident event informationverifier when the mobile apparatus detects an unverified incident eventthat is similar to a validated incident event to verify the similarunverified incident event. Illustrative embodiments may expect theunverified incident event, which illustrative embodiments have not yetadded to incident event block chain 314, to have the most up-to-dateinformation. In addition, such an aggressive verification process maylead to lengthening incident event block chain 314, which increases thereliability of the incident event information managed by incident eventblock chain 314.

In particular illustrative embodiments, each of modules 302, 304, 306,and 308 may be implemented as a software module including programinstructions and/or data structures in conjunction with hardwarecomponents, such as a processor, a memory, a storage device, and thelike; a hardware module including electronic circuitry; or a combinationthereof. It should be noted that all modules 302, 304, 306, and 308 areimplemented on mobile apparatus 300. However, it should be noted thatalternative illustrative embodiments may omit a portion of modules 302,304, 306, and 308 from mobile apparatus 300.

With reference now to FIG. 4, a diagram illustrating a set of examplecomponents implemented on a computing node is depicted in accordancewith an illustrative embodiment. Components 400 may include, forexample, incident event information validation module 402 and eventexistence proof verification module 404. The example of FIG. 4 alsoshows verified incident event 406, event existence proof pool 408,incident event block chain 410, and event existence proof block chain412.

Event existence proof verification module 404 may retrieve one or moreevent existence proof transactions from event existence proof pool 408.Event existence proof verification module 404 also may verify the one ormore existence proof transactions in terms of physical (i.e., geographiclocation) consistency with other event existence proof transactions.Each event existence proof transaction may indicate an encounter betweenone mobile apparatus that may act as an incident event informationverifier, such as incident event information verifier 206 in FIG. 2, andanother mobile or immobile apparatus that may act as an event existenceproof generator, such as event existence proof generator 204 in FIG. 2.

Event existence proof verification module 404 may generate an eventexistence proof block that comprises event existence proof block chain412 in response to event existence proof verification module 404successfully verifying the retrieved event existence proof transactions.The generated event existence proof block may include, for example, oneor more verified event existence proof transactions. Illustrativeembodiments may utilize a proof-of-work model to generate a new eventexistence proof block for a given challenge level.

After successfully generating the event existence proof block for thegiven challenge level, event existence proof verification module 404 maypublish the newly generated existence proof block to add it to eventexistence proof block chain 412. Alternatively, if event existence proofverification module 404 receives an event existence proof block, whichwas published by another computing node, indicating failure of theverification, then event existence proof verification module 404 mayvalidate the event existence proof block published by the othercomputing node and add that event existence proof block to eventexistence proof block chain 412. Another computing node (i.e., anincident event information validator) may use the one or more verifiedevent existence proof transactions to validate the verified incidentevent published by a mobile apparatus (i.e., an incident eventinformation verifier).

Incident event information validation module 402 may receive a verifiedincident event, which was published by a mobile apparatus acting as anincident event information verifier, and obtain one or more eventexistence proof transactions specified in the verified incident event byreferring to event existence proof block chain 412. As described above,the verified incident event may include, for example, a list of theevent existence proof transactions, each transaction indicating anencounter between the mobile apparatus and another mobile apparatus oran immobile apparatus via the P2P network.

Incident event information validation module 402 may validate theverified incident event using the one or more event existence prooftransactions in terms of geographic locations of the mobile apparatusbefore and/or after verification. After confirming that the one or moreevent existence proof transactions indicate existence of the mobileapparatus being located at the geographic location of the verifiedincident event and a time corresponding to verification, incident eventinformation validation module 402 may add the verified incident event tothe incident event block chain 410, which illustrative embodiments mayuse to manage relevant incident events to the verified incident event.

In particular illustrative embodiments, incident event informationvalidation module 402 and event existence proof verification module 404may be implemented as software modules including program instructionsand/or data structures in conjunction with hardware components, such asa processor, a memory, a storage device, and the like; a hardware moduleincluding electronic circuitry; or a combination thereof. It should benoted that both incident event information validation module 402 andevent existence proof verification module 404 are implemented on asingle computing node. However, alternative illustrative embodiments mayomit either incident event information validation module 402 or eventexistence proof verification module 404 from the single computing node.

Also, a mobile apparatus, such as mobile apparatus 300 in FIG. 3, mayhave similar components as those of components 400 if sufficientresources of the mobile apparatus are available. For example, the mobileapparatus may implement incident event information validation module 402and/or event existence proof verification module 404 to participate inthe validation of a verified incident event published by another mobileapparatus and/or verification of the event existence proof transactionsissued by another mobile apparatus. If incident event informationvalidation module 402 is implemented on the mobile apparatus, thenillustrative embodiments may request that the mobile apparatus allocateenough resources to store event existence proof block chain 412.

With reference now to FIG. 5, a sequence diagram depicting a processflow from detection of event information to publication of verifiedevent information is depicted in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment. It should be noted that illustrative embodiments perform theprocess flow shown in FIG. 5 between incident event detector 502 andincident event information verifier 504, such as incident event detector202 and incident event information verifier 206 in FIG. 2.

At step 506, incident event detector 502 detects a local incident eventand its corresponding event information content. At step 508, incidentevent detector 502 reports an unverified incident event by issuing anincident event transaction via a P2P network for verification. At step510, incident event information verifier 504 retrieves one or moreunverified incident events from unverified incident event pool 512, suchas unverified incident event pool 212 in FIG. 2. A respective incidentevent detector within the P2P network may issue a correspondingunverified incident event.

At step 514, incident event information verifier 504 initiatescommunications for generating event existence proofs. At step 516 andstep 518, incident event information verifier 504, while en route to thegeographic location of the incident event, issues an event existenceproof transaction in response to encountering a respective mobileapparatus or immobile apparatus acting as an event existence proofgenerator, such as event existence proof generator 204 in FIG. 2.Illustrative embodiments may store the event existence prooftransactions in event existence proof pool 520, such as event existenceproof pool 218 in FIG. 2.

At step 522, incident event information verifier 504 detects arrival atthe geographic location reported in the retrieved unverified incidentevents. At step 524, upon arrival incident event information verifier504 verifies existence of the one or more unverified incident events bydetecting the local incident event and any associated incident eventinformation regarding the geographic location of the one or moreunverified incident events. At step 526, incident event informationverifier 504 generates a verified incident event, which may include agroup of incident event transactions that illustrative embodimentsdetermine to be relevant. At step 528, incident event informationverifier 504 publishes verified incident event 530 in response to asuccessful verification of the one or more unverified incident events.Verified incident event 530 may be, for example, verified incident event214 in FIG. 2.

With reference now to FIG. 6, a diagram illustrating an example ofreporting an unverified incident event by respective incident eventdetectors is depicted in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. Therespective incident event detectors may be, for example, incident eventdetectors 202 in FIG. 2. Mobile apparatus, such as vehicle 602A, 602B,and 604C, which act as the respective incident event detectors, mayissue multiple incident event transactions 604 corresponding toidentical incident event 606. Vehicle 602A, 602B, and 604C may transmitor issue multiple incident event transactions 604 to nearby vehicle 602Dvia P2P network 608. Nearby vehicle 602D may become an incident eventinformation verifier, such as incident event information verifier 206 inFIG. 2, for identical incident event 606.

With reference now to FIG. 7, a diagram illustrating an example ofgenerating event existence proofs by an incident event informationverifier and a subsequent event existence proof verification process byan event existence proof verifier is depicted in accordance with anillustrative embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 7, multiple eventexistence proof transactions relating to nearby vehicle 702D, which isacting as an incident event information verifier in this example, areissued by both parties at each encounter with vehicle 702E, vehicle702F, and vehicle 702G, respectively, that act as an event existenceproof generator. Computing node 704, which is acting as an eventexistence proof verifier, verifies the issued event existence prooftransactions corresponding to obstruction 706 and adds the verifiedevent existent proof transactions to event existence proof block chain708 after verification.

With reference now to FIG. 8, a diagram illustrating an example ofverifying an unverified incident event by an incident event informationverifier to publish a verified incident event is depicted in accordancewith an illustrative embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 8, upon arrivingat the geographic location of the unverified incident event, vehicle802D, which is acting as an incident event information verifier in thisexample, determines whether the reported incident event is the same orsubstantially equal to what is currently occurring at the geographiclocation of obstruction 804. After verifying the reported incident eventinformation corresponding to obstruction 804, vehicle 802D generates averified incident event including one or more incident eventtransactions (each incident event transaction includes event content,time, and geographic location) corresponding to the incident event; alist of event existence proof transactions generated during a period oftime from when vehicle 802D detected the incident event until vehicle802D arrives at the geographic location of the incident event; and theverification, which includes a digital signature of the vehicle 802D.

With reference now to FIG. 9, a diagram illustrating an example ofvalidating a verified incident event by an incident event informationvalidator is depicted in accordance with an illustrative embodiment.Computing node 902, which is acting as the incident event informationvalidator, retrieves verified incident event 904, which a mobileapparatus acting as an incident event information verifier, such asvehicle 802D in FIG. 8, publishes. Computing node 902 may be, forexample, computing node 106A in FIG. 1.

In addition, computing node 902 refers to event existence proof blockchain 906 to obtain one or more event existence proof transactionsspecified in verified incident event 904. Further, computing node 902validates verified incident event 904 using the one or more eventexistence proof transactions in terms of geographic locations of themobile apparatus acting as the incident event information verifierbefore and/or after the verification. Furthermore, computing node 902generates verified event block 908, which includes verified incidentevent 904 and a hash of verified event block 908, and adds verifiedevent block 908 to incident event block chain 910.

With reference now to FIG. 10, a flowchart illustrating a processexecuted by a computing node for validating event information is shownin accordance with an illustrative embodiment. The computing node maybe, for example, computing node 902 in FIG. 9. Moreover, the computingnode is acting as an incident event information validator, such asincident event information validator 208 in FIG. 2.

The process begins in response to the computing node initiating avalidation process in accordance with a predefined policy, which definesconditions for the computing node to participate in the validationprocess (step 1000). The computing node retrieves a verified incidentevent (step 1002). A mobile apparatus acting as an incident eventinformation verifier publishes the verified incident event.

In addition, the computing node obtains a list of event existence prooftransactions from the verified incident event (step 1004). Illustrativeembodiments may provide the list in the form of a list of identifiers ofthe event existence proof transactions or a list of links to the eventexistence proof transactions. The computing node also refers to an eventexistence proof block chain to obtain the one or more event existenceproof transactions specified in the verified incident event (step 1006).[Also see FIG. 9, “REFER”]. Further, the computing node attempts tovalidate the verified incident event using the one or more eventexistence proof transactions in terms of geographic locations of theincident event information verifier before and/or after theverification. [Also see FIG. 9, “VALIDATE”].

Furthermore, the computing node determines whether valid event existenceproof transactions exist to prove that the incident event informationverifier was actually at the geographic location of the verifiedincident event, which the computing device retrieved (step 1008).Moreover, the computing node makes a determination as to whether thecomputing node successfully validated the verified incident event (step1010). If the computing node determines that the validated eventexistence proof transactions prove that the incident event informationverifier was actually at the geographic location of the verifiedincident event, yes output of step 1010, then the computing nodegenerates a verified event block, such as verified event block 906 inFIG. 9, which includes the verified incident event and a hash of theverified event block, and adds the verified event block to an incidentevent block chain, such as incident event block chain 908 in FIG. 9(step 1012). [Also see FIG. 9, “ADD”]. Thereafter, the processterminates (step 1014).

Returning again to step 1010, if the computing node determines that novalid event existence proof transactions exist proving that the incidentevent information verifier was actually at the geographic location ofthe verified incident event, no output of step 1010, then the computingnode discards the invalid verified incident event (step 1016).Thereafter, the process returns to step 1014 where the processterminates.

With reference now to FIG. 11, a flowchart illustrating a processexecuted by a computing node for verifying event existence proof of amobile apparatus being at a specific geographic location, at a specifictime is shown in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. Thecomputing node may be, for example, computing node 160B in FIG. 1.Moreover, the computing node is acting as an event existence proofverifier, such as event existence proof verifier 222A in FIG. 2.

The process begins in response to the computing node initiating averification process in accordance with a predefined policy, whichdefines conditions for the computing node to participate in theverification of event existence proofs (step 1100). The computing noderetrieves one or more event existence proof transactions (step 1102). Amobile apparatus, which is acting as an incident event informationverifier, may issue an event existence proof transaction. Each eventexistence proof transaction indicates an encounter between the mobileapparatus acting as the incident event information verifier and arespective mobile apparatus or an immobile apparatus, which is acting asan event existence proof generator.

The computing node rejects duplicate event existence proof transactionsissued by a same pair of apparatus within a predetermined time period(step 1104). To suppress tampering by a plurality of apparatusconspiring to generate false event existence proof transactions betweeneach other, illustrative embodiments may only consider one or a fewevent existence proof transactions that are issued by the same pair ofapparatus within a predetermined period of time for verification. Thus,even when an identical pair of apparatus generate a plurality of eventexistence proof transactions within a predetermined period of time,illustrative embodiments may ignore the second and subsequent eventexistence proof transactions issued by this same pair of apparatus.

The computing node verifies retrieved event existence proof transactionsin terms of geographic location and time consistency by comparing theretrieved event existence proof transactions with other event existenceproof transactions generated by other apparatus. Further, the computingnode removes doubtful event existence proof transactions with acontradiction in terms of geographic location and/or time consistency(step 1106). To suppress disguise by high performance computerspretending to be a plurality of mobile apparatus and issuing a massiveamount of false event existence proof transactions, each mobileapparatus may store a digital certificate (e.g., a secret key), which atrusted certificate authority may generate and issue at the time eachmobile apparatus is manufactured, for example.

Afterward, the computing node attempts to generate an event existenceproof block, which includes the verified event existence prooftransactions under a given challenge level (step 1108). The computingnode makes a determination as to whether the generation of the eventexistence proof block succeeded (step 1110). If the computing nodedetermines that the generation of the event existence proof blockfailed, no output of step 1110, then the computing node validatesanother received event existence proof block (step 1112). In addition,the computing device adds the other event existence proof block to anevent existence proof block chain when receiving the other eventexistence proof block published by another event existence proofverifier. Thereafter, the process terminates (step 1114).

Returning again to step 1110, if the computing node determines that thegeneration of the event existence proof block succeeded, yes output ofstep 1110, then the computing node publishes the newly generated eventexistence proof block (step 1116). Thereafter, the process returns tostep 1114 where the process terminates. It should be noted that anothercomputing node acting as an incident event information validator usesthe one or more verified event existence proof transactions stored inthe event existence proof block chain.

With reference now to FIG. 12, a flowchart illustrating a processexecuted by the mobile apparatus for verifying incident eventinformation, detecting incident event information, and subscribingincident event information is shown in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment. The process executed by the mobile apparatus verifies theincident event information, which is shared among a plurality of mobileapparatus. It should be noted that one mobile apparatus acting as anincident event information verifier, an incident event detector, and anincident event subscriber may perform the process depending upon thecircumstances of the mobile apparatus.

The process begins in response to starting the mobile apparatus (step1200). The mobile apparatus retrieves one or more unverified andvalidated incident events (i.e., an incident event block chain for eachvalidated incident event published in a P2P network) corresponding to ageographic location nearby the mobile apparatus to update incident eventtargets for monitoring (step 1202). The mobile apparatus may subscribeto information of the validated incident events corresponding to thenearby geographic location to utilize the information as the incidentevent information subscriber. Furthermore, the mobile apparatus also mayretrieve an unverified incident event similar to one of the validatedincident events as an incident event target for monitoring.

The mobile apparatus determines whether there is at least one unverifiedincident event in the incident event targets for monitoring (step 1204).If the mobile apparatus determines that there is at least one unverifiedincident event in the incident event targets for monitoring, yes outputof step 1204, then the mobile apparatus initiates communication forgenerating an event existence proof transaction (step 1206). At thisstep, the mobile apparatus acts as an incident event informationverifier. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step 1210. If the mobileapparatus determines that there is no unverified incident event in theincident event targets for monitoring, no output of step 1204, then themobile apparatus terminates communication for generating an eventexistence proof transaction (step 1208). In this step, the mobileapparatus acts as an incident event detector.

The mobile apparatus tries to detect a local incident event and itsassociated event content (step 1210). The mobile apparatus makes adetermination as to whether there is at least one incident event in theincident event targets for monitoring (step 1212). If the mobileapparatus determines that there is no incident event in the incidentevent targets for monitoring, no output of step 1212, then the mobileapparatus makes a further determination as to whether the mobileapparatus has detected the local incident event (step 1214). If themobile apparatus determines that the local incident event has not beendetected, no output of step 1214, then the process returns to step 1202.If the mobile apparatus determines that the local incident event hasbeen detected, yes output of step 1214, then the mobile apparatusreports the detected local incident event as a new incident event (step1216). In this step, the mobile apparatus acts as the incident eventinformation detector. It should be noted that other mobile apparatusverify this new incident event. Thereafter, the process returns to step1202.

Returning again to step 1212, if the mobile apparatus determines thatthere is at least one incident event in the incident event targets formonitoring, yes output of step 1212, then the mobile apparatus makes afurther determination as to whether the mobile apparatus has arrived atone of the geographic locations of the target incident events (step1218). If the mobile apparatus determines that the mobile apparatus hasnot arrived at any of the geographic locations of the target incidentevents, no output of step 1218, then the process returns to step 1214.If the mobile apparatus determines that the mobile apparatus has arrivedat one of the geographic locations of the target incident events, yesoutput of step 1218, then the mobile apparatus determines whether thedetected event content matches that of the target incident event at thearrival geographic location (step 1220).

The mobile apparatus makes a determination as to whether the detectedevent content corresponding to the local incident event matches reportedevent content upon arrival at the geographic location (step 1222). Ifthe mobile apparatus determines that the detected event contentcorresponding to the local incident event does match the reported eventcontent upon arrival at the geographic location, yes output of step1222, then the mobile apparatus makes a further determination as towhether the detected incident event at the arrival geographic locationis an unverified incident event (step 1224).

If the mobile apparatus determines that the detected incident event atthe arrival geographic location is an unverified incident event, yesoutput of step 1224, then the mobile apparatus generates a verifiedincident event, which includes the detected incident event and otherrelevant incident events, and publishes the verified incident event(step 1226). In this step, the mobile apparatus acts as an incidentevent information verifier. Thereafter, the process returns to step1202.

Returning again to step 1224, if the mobile apparatus determines thatthe detected incident event at the arrival geographic location is not anunverified incident event, no output of step 1224, then the mobileapparatus reports the detected incident event, which may be identical tothe validated incident event of the target incident event, as a newunverified incident event (step 1228). In this step, the mobileapparatus acts as an incident event detector. Other mobile apparatusverify this new incident event, which leads to a lengthening of thecorresponding incident event block chain. Thereafter, the processreturns to step 1202.

Returning again to step 1222, if the mobile apparatus determines thatthe detected event content corresponding to the local incident eventdoes not match the reported event content upon arrival at the geographiclocation, no output of step 1222, then the mobile apparatus reports thenew incident event indicating a state change of the target incidentevent no matter whether the target incident event at the arrivalgeographic location is an unverified incident event or not (step 1230).In this step, the mobile apparatus acts as an incident event detector.Other mobile apparatus verify this new incident event and illustrativeembodiments validate the new incident event via the aforementionedmechanism. In this step, illustrative embodiments may branch thecorresponding incident event block chain and add the incident eventblock indicating the change in state. When the addition of the incidentevent blocks with the changed state becomes predominant, illustrativeembodiments regard the state of the incident event as having changed.

At step 1230, the mobile apparatus also may report the new incidentevent indicating clearance of the target incident event as the statechange in response to the mobile apparatus failing to detect the localincident event upon arrival at the geographic location. When theaddition of the incident event blocks indicating that the incident eventhas been cleared becomes predominant, illustrative embodiments regardthe incident event as having been cleared and delete the correspondingincident event block chain for the cleared incident event after apredetermined period of time. All incident event information validatorsdiscard their own incident event block chain within a predetermined timeperiod after recognizing the clearance of the incident event.Thereafter, the process returns to step 1202.

With reference now to FIG. 13, a diagram illustrating an example of amobile apparatus acting as an incident event information verifier and anincident event information validator is depicted in accordance with analternative illustrative embodiment. Mobile apparatus, such as vehicles1302A, 1302B, and 1302C traveling in an opposite direction as vehicle1302D, may issue a respective incident event transaction 1304corresponding to an incident event, such as obstruction 1306, whendetecting the incident event. Vehicles 1302A, 1302B, and 1302C transmitrespective incident event transactions 1304 to nearby vehicle 1302D.Nearby vehicle 1302D may become an incident event information verifierand an incident event information validator for obstruction 1306.

Upon arrival at the geographic location corresponding to the unverifiedincident event (i.e. obstruction 1306), vehicle 1302D acts as theincident event information verifier by determining whether the detectedincident event as previously reported in issued incident eventtransactions is equal to what is currently occurring at the geographiclocation. After verifying the incident event, vehicle 1302D generatesverified event block 1308, which includes the verified incident event.Vehicle 1302D may directly chain verified event block 1308 with incidentevent block chain 1310 corresponding to obstruction 1306. To determinewhich incident event block chain to chain verified event block 1308 to,vehicle 1302D may refer to an event existence proof block chain tovalidate whether or not the last chained event block contains validevent existence proof transactions. In this situation, illustrativeembodiments may request that vehicle 1302D store or refer to the eventexistence proof block chain.

With reference now to FIG. 14, a diagram illustrating an example of amobile apparatus acting as an incident event detector, an incident eventinformation verifier, and an incident event information validator inaccordance with another alternative illustrative embodiment. In thisexample, vehicle 1402D communicates with other nearby passing vehicles,such as 1402A, 1402B, and 1402C, and generates event existence prooftransactions 1404 to declare where vehicle 1402D is geographicallylocated and at what time. Vehicle 1402D may place event existence prooftransactions 1404 in event existence proof block 1406. Further, vehicle1402D may place event existence proof block 1406 in event existenceproof block chain 1408 after being verified in terms of physicalgeographic location consistency of the set of the event existence prooftransactions by an event existence proof verifier.

Vehicle 1402D acting as the incident event detector and the incidentevent information verifier, may detect obstruction 1410 as the localincident event and generate a verified event block including a verifiedincident event, which may include information associated withobstruction 1410 and a list of the event existence proofs generated overa given time period prior to vehicle 1402D reaching the geographiclocation of obstruction 1410. Vehicle 1402D may chain the verified eventblock in the corresponding incident event block chain. To determinewhich incident event block chain to place the verified event blockwithin, vehicle 1402D may refer to the event existence proof block chainto validate whether or not the last chained event block contains validevent existence proof transactions. In this situation, illustrativeembodiments also may request that vehicle 1402D store or refer to theevent existence proof block chain.

Such incident event information may be useful in ageographically-limited area. In a conventional centralized managementsystem, all incident event information is collected from wholegeographical areas, which may require a large amount of storage spaceand lead to network congestion. In contrast to conventional centralizedmanagement systems, illustrative embodiments share thisgeographically-dependent information among a plurality of nearby mobileapparatus.

In addition, illustrative embodiments may record a change in state of anincident event in an incident event block chain in real time or nearreal time. Thus, utilizing illustrative embodiments it may be possibleto update incident event information more quickly than usingconventional centralized management systems. Mobile apparatus may sharethe incident event information with secure reliability, without using atrusted third party. Further, because illustrative embodiments generateincident event block chains for each incident event geographic location,incident event information subscribers merely need to pay attention tothe incident event information corresponding to its surrounding area.

By using two types of block chains (i.e., the incident event block chainand the event existence proof block chain), illustrative embodimentsprevent incident event information verifiers from tampering with proofthat the incident event information verifier has been at the geographiclocation of the incident event. Hence, illustrative embodiments increasereliability of the incident event information in the incident eventblock chain.

Even if a mobile apparatus reports an erroneous incident event due to afailure of a sensor or the like, illustrative embodiments do notgenerate an event block including the erroneous incident event or extenda chain of such blocks indicating similar states of incident eventsbecause other incident event information verifiers seldom detect thesame erroneous incident event information. Consequently, illustrativeembodiments automatically delete such erroneously detected incidentevents from the P2P network.

Also, a scale and range of a geographic area covered by one P2P networkcan be designed without considering the number of mobile apparatus orthe number of incident events. This is because the number of mobileapparatus that participate in the verification process of an unverifiedincident event may be expected to increase as the number of the mobileapparatus located in a geographic area increases, which may increase thenumber of incident events occurring within the area as well. Thus,illustrative embodiments may balance the load for verifying incidentevents among the participants.

With reference now to FIG. 15, a block diagram illustrating an exampleof a computing node or an on-board data processing device of a mobileapparatus is depicted in accordance with one or more illustrativeembodiments. Computer system 1500 is only one example of a dataprocessing device and is not intended to suggest any limitation as tothe scope of use or functionality of illustrative embodiments. Computersystem 1500 is operational with numerous other general purpose orspecial purpose computing system environments or configurations.Examples of well-known computing systems, environments, and/orconfigurations that may be suitable for use with computer system 1500may include, but are not limited to, personal computer systems, servercomputer systems, thin clients, thick clients, hand-held or laptopdevices, onboard vehicle devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based systems, set-top boxes, programmable consumerelectronics, network computers, minicomputer systems, mainframe computersystems, and distributed cloud computing environments that include anyof the above systems or devices, and the like.

Computer system 1500 may be described in the general context of computersystem-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executedby a computer system. Generally, program modules may include routines,programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and so on thatperform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.

Computer system 1500 is shown in the form of a general-purpose computingdevice. The components of computer system 1500 may include, but are notlimited to, processor 1502 and memory 1504 coupled to processor 1502 viaa bus including a memory bus or memory controller, and a processor orlocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. Computer system1500 typically includes a variety of computer system readable media.Such media may be any available media that is accessible by computersystem 1500 and may include both volatile and non-volatile media,removable and non-removable media.

Memory 1504 may include computer system readable media in the form ofvolatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM). Computer system1500 may further include other removable/non-removable,volatile/non-volatile computer system storage media. By way of exampleonly, storage system 1506 may be provided for reading from and writingto a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media. Storage system 1506 mayinclude at least one program product having a set (e.g., at least one)of program modules that are configured to carry out the functions ofillustrative embodiments.

Program/utility, having a set of one or more program modules, may bestored in the storage system 1506 by way of example, and not limitation,as well as an operating system, one or more application programs, otherprogram modules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one ormore application programs, other program modules, and program data orsome combination thereof, may include an implementation of a networkingenvironment.

Computer system 1500 also may communicate with one or more peripherals1508 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a car navigation system, anaudio system, and the like; display 1510; one or more devices thatenable a user to interact with computer system 1500; and/or any devices(e.g., network card, modem, etc.) that enable computer system 1500 tocommunicate with one or more other computing devices. Such communicationmay occur via Input/Output (I/O) interface 1512. Further, computersystem 1500 may communicate with one or more networks, such as a localarea network (LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a publicnetwork (e.g., the Internet), via network adapter 1514. Network adapter1514 communicates with the other components of computer system 1500 viathe bus. It should be noted that although not shown, other hardwareand/or software components may be used in conjunction with computersystem 1500. Examples, include, but are not limited to: microcode,device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays,RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storage systems, and thelike.

Thus, illustrative embodiments of the present invention provide acomputer-implemented method, computer system, and computer programproduct for sharing of event information among a plurality of mobileapparatus in a P2P network surrounding a geographic location of anincident event. The descriptions of the various embodiments of thepresent invention have been presented for purposes of illustration, butare not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodimentsdisclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to thoseof ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spiritof the described embodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen tobest explain the principles of the embodiments, the practicalapplication or technical improvement over technologies found in themarketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art tounderstand the embodiments disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method executed by amobile apparatus for verifying shared event information, thecomputer-implemented method comprising: communicating, by the mobileapparatus, with a nearby mobile or immobile apparatus to generate anevent existence proof in response to encountering the nearby mobile orimmobile apparatus; verifying, by the mobile apparatus, existence of anincident event in response to arriving at a geographic location of theincident event; and publishing, by the mobile apparatus, a verifiedincident event to add to an incident event distributed ledger formanaging incident event information corresponding to the incident event.2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:obtaining, by the mobile apparatus, an unverified incident eventreported by other mobile apparatus as the incident event, the unverifiedincident event including information associated with the geographiclocation of the unverified incident event.
 3. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 2, wherein the event existence proof is added into anevent existence proof block of an existence proof distributed ledgerafter being verified in terms of geographic location consistency withother event existence proofs.
 4. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 2, wherein the verified incident event is added into the incidentevent distributed ledger after being validated in terms of geographiclocations of the mobile apparatus at a time around the verifying of theexistence of the incident event.
 5. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 2, further comprising: initiating, by the mobile apparatus,communication for generating the event existence proof in response tothe mobile apparatus obtaining the unverified incident event, theverified incident event including a list of event existence proofsgenerated during a time period from the obtaining of the unverifiedincident event to the publishing of the verified incident event.
 6. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the unverified incidentevent includes event content of the unverified incident event, andwherein the verifying of the existence of the incident event furthercomprises: detecting, by the mobile apparatus, a local incident eventaround the geographic location of the unverified incident event; anddetermining, by the mobile apparatus, whether event content of the localincident event matches the event content of the unverified incidentevent.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein thepublishing of the verified incident event is performed in response todetermining that the event content of the local incident event matchesthe event content of the unverified incident event, and furthercomprising: reporting, by the mobile apparatus, a state change relatingto the incident event as a new unverified incident event via a networkin response to determining that the event content of the local incidentevent does not match the event content reported by the other mobileapparatus or the local incident event failed to be detected around thegeographic location.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 2,wherein the obtaining of the unverified incident report comprises:subscribing, by the mobile apparatus, a validated incident eventrelating to a nearby geographic location; and retrieving, by the mobileapparatus, an unverified event similar to the validated incident eventas the unverified incident event.
 9. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 2, wherein the publishing of the verified incident eventcomprises: validating, by the mobile apparatus, whether the incidentevent distributed ledger records valid event existence proofs byreferring to an event existence proof distributed ledger; and adding, bythe mobile apparatus, the verified incident event into the incidentevent distributed ledger in response to determining that the incidentevent distributed ledger records valid event existence proofs.
 10. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the verifying of theexistence of the incident event comprises detecting, by the mobileapparatus, the incident event by using a sensor included in or connectedto the mobile apparatus; and wherein the publishing of the verifiedincident event comprises: validating, by the mobile apparatus, whetherthe incident event distributed ledger records valid event existenceproofs by referring to an event existence proof distributed ledger; andadding, by the mobile apparatus, the verified incident event to theincident event distributed ledger in response to determining that theincident event distributed ledger records valid event existence proofs.